


The Alphas, The Emissary and the Druid. And Stiles

by nothing_much



Series: Pack business [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Druids, M/M, Mentioned Scott McCall (Teen Wolf), Pack Meetings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:13:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25628767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nothing_much/pseuds/nothing_much
Summary: There is still a few questions to answer: Is Deaton good or bad, or just cryptic. If he’s bad, how do we get rid of him, if he’s good, will he stay, and who will he be? If he’s just cryptic and want and works for balance. How will it continue.OrIt's Deaton's turn.
Series: Pack business [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1834861
Comments: 14
Kudos: 193





	1. Deaton shows

**Author's Note:**

> The story is all done, but I'll need to check the chapters, so I'll try to publish one a day.
> 
> I think this is the last part of it.  
> We'll see.

“So, I have a voicemail, and four text messages to call Deaton, do you guys have any idea what that’s about?” Stiles seemed to ask the room at random. And it wasn’t a surprise that no one answered him. He knew neither of the alphas had an answer for him. And they weren’t very talkative even when they had an answer. 

“Does he know about Scott?” he continued. Both alphas shook their head. “No, “he agreed probably not. “How much of Scott’s mess was his doing?” Stiles mumbled to himself. “Should I call him?”

“Call him tomorrow” Peter told him, he can wait.

“Yeah,” Derek agreed, “then you can call him on your own terms, and be prepared. If you don’t want to make the call alone, me or anyone else you’d like to be there, will. Pack, remember?” 

Pack and boyfriend, there was a lot to get used to. Not too much, and only good things. He’d found his footing, and he was almost back to normal. He didn’t feel left out, and even though he didn’t speak as much as his former rambling self, used to, he’d started talking a lot more. To top that off, he knew his pack was listening. Some of his sass and sarcasm had started to show again, and no one treated that as if it was a bad thing. Well to be honest. They were all kind of assholes. A pack filled with them. Somewhere deep down Stiles longed for the time when they would start to act like assholes towards him. They weren’t tip toeing, but all of them were nice. It felt kind of odd, wanting people to treat him well not bad, but. 

Anyway. Deaton. He was going to have to figure something out. He needed answers, and he wasn’t sure he was going to get them ‘regularly’. Or at all, Deaton was a cryptic MF who never gave a straight answer if he could get around it somehow. Stiles was going to need to bring one of his wolfy friends, which at least prevented the druid from straight out lying. Something he’d realised way too late.

He had no clue what Deaton had been up to these past couple of months. He’d been away at least a week when they had their stand-off with Scott. And that was a couple of months ago, so Deaton had been, maybe still was, away for about four months now. With no one the wiser about what he was doing. 

So there was at least a couple of questions that needed to be answered, before they could decide what to do with the resident druid. Most important, loyalty. Where did the druid place his loyalty? Honouring balance was all good, but ignoring things was sheer laziness. He understood the sometimes blurry line that was the difference between a druid and a darach.   
Balance was a goal to reach for. Sitting idly at the side of the field and doing nothing, was not the way to enhance balance and order. Letting bad things happen in the name of balance was just an easy out as far as Stiles was concerned. Deaton’s kind of balance was to let things play out and handle the consequences. If he wanted to remain in the area, and be adjacent to the pack, the Nemeton and the land, he was going to have to step up. No more evasive behaviours or answers. No cryptic messages, no more cryptic Deaton.

The days of cryptic, evasive and patching up werewolves were over. If Deaton wanted to stay, he would have to be up front. There were so many of them in the know now, that if they were hurt, they had alternatives to Deaton. They had the means to figure out different kinds of poisoning and Wolfbane strains by themselves, living with a supernatural beacon had done that. 

He wrote down a couple of questions, sent a text message to Deaton to meet up in his clinic, and a time, he decided to assume that the vet was back. In the end he also decided that he would bring both Derek and Peter, he also invited Mason. 

He decided to get on with his day after he’d reached out to some contacts and done some research. 

Derek was driving, with Peter and Mason in the car when they picked him up. He’d not gotten an answer from Deaton, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to be in his office. 

Mason seemed a bit nervous, but Derek and Peter were calm. Stiles went over his questions in his head, and asked if there was anything that Mason or the alphas wanted to say or ask. They all decided that Stiles would do the talking. It was him that Deaton had reached out to.

As they suspected, Deaton was in his office. Sitting behind his desk with some papers in front of him. He didn’t seem very surprised to see all of them. Then he never seemed very, anything, he held his cards close. 

“Oh, you’re back” he said as he saw Peter and Derek, who nodded at him.

“It was time” Peter said. Deaton nodded. 

“I’ve been trying to reach Scott” the druid stated. No one said anything to that. 

“So, where have you been?” Stiles asked pointedly “no one seemed to know”

“I told Scott before I left” was the older man’s short answer. He seemed to dismiss them after that. Going back to his papers. 

“Well, Scott told no one” it was Mason speaking up. Deaton lifted his head again, focusing on the young boy with a frown in his face.

“Where is Scott?” Deaton’s question was directed at Mason this time.

“Not here” Stiles answered, and continued “Where have you been?” not putting very much hope in getting a straight answer. And to no one’s surprise the druid answered:

“Here and there” before he tried to ignore them again.

“Rude,” Stiles said.

“Disrespectful” Peter agreed, and Derek nodded.

“He is no use to us like this” Mason stated.

Stiles turned to face the wall, and took a deep breath before he turned around to the druid again.

“This is how this is going to play out. You have 24 hours, from the moment we entered here today, to either leave town, or bite the bullet, and answer all our questions, truthfully. Starting with telling us where you have been for the last couple of months. Things have changed when you were away, and you either change with them, or leave” Stiles calmly told him, and picked something out of his pocket, and placed it on the druid’s desk.

“Consider this your notice” he said as he left the rune on the table, and turned to leave, with Mason, Peter and Derek following him. Derek’s had was on his lower back, as support. Mason and Peter both touched him while walking, Mason’s shoulder bumped in to his, and Peter was walking close to his side, with their arms touching. He didn’t really know who was supporting whom.


	2. Sorting things out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What's going on?

It was too early for lunch, and too late for breakfast when they left the veterinarians office. They decided to go to the diner and grab something to drink, while discussing strategies. 

“What was that rune you gave Deaton?” Mason asked as they sat down at a table. The waitress came over and took their order before they said anything else. The diner was quite empty, which got them their coffee almost immediately. 

“Oh, it was something my magic tutor taught me” Stiles replied when they were alone again. “It’s just a token, but I imbued it with some of my magic to make it clear that we were serious, and to make him more compelled to make a decision”. The others nodded. “I also implanted the time limit, so there is kind of a count down towards it”. They all looked very impressed by this. Peter muttering something Stiles couldn’t hear clearly, but it seemed to be about Scott being a dumb idiot. Mason must have heard because he as well as Derek was snickering.

“Wait a minute” Mason realised “magic tutor? Since when? How?” 

“Well,” Stiles squirmed a little “since Deaton didn’t want to teach me, and Scott didn’t really care, I reached out to Peter and asked him to help. He hooked me up with someone, I’ve had online tutoring for a while now” Mason stared at him, eyes wide.

“Did Scott know?” he asked 

“Of course I told Scott, but if he listened, knew, I don’t know, he probably didn’t” Stiles answered sounding more hurt than he wanted to. Voice cracking. 

“So,” Mason sounded angry, “all those times? Every time? You suggested magic solutions, and Deaton said that there weren’t any out there. You could have helped? Like with finding those Harpies? Or Pixies?”

“Yeah,” Stiles agreed, nodding “I’m really good at location spells, I told Scott and Deaton about it, but Scott just shrugged it off, and Deaton treated me like I was a baby, he didn’t believe me” Seeing Mason getting angry on his behalf gave him a good feeling. He knew Mason was looking at him differently now, and it was refreshing to see that he cared. But it also made him angry with Scott, for treating him in a way that the other pack members interpreted as him being there because he used to be a friend, and was in the know. A nuisance that was just there. 

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry I didn’t stand up for you or you know, I didn’t really know you, and so much stuff happened, and… well it’s all excuses, not worth anything in the end. I’m sorry I didn’t bother to get to know you! I have no real way to make what was okay, but I will make sure I will have your back, in what is, and what will be” he claimed, and Stiles nodded. 

“Thank you, I don’t really blame anyone. It was what it was. I’m disappointed with Scott and Deaton, I trusted them. Scott was my friend, my brother. Deaton, well I’ve never trusted Deaton, he was to evasive, to sure about, and tied up to his own version of balance.”

“Balance, my ass” Mason raged. “He just stood at the side lines, did the easy thing, like Scott he never wanted to get his hands dirty. And if he was the Emissary for the old Hale pack, he would have suffered a great deal by the fact that the bonds broke, I know I suffered by Scott’s weak imitation of a bond broke, and this, our bond” he pointed to his chest “if it was to brake, it would ruin me. He would have needed to stay close to you guys” Mason looked at Peter and Derek “Not, never visit, and push you away” pointing at Peter and Derek in turn. “And as associated he was with Scott, he would have known ages ago if something was up, why does he seem to be oblivious to the fact that he has no pack or alpha, even as pack adjacent he’s a druid, he should know” Mason finished. 

They all looked at each other. 

“Oh, I have so many questions, I sure hope he’s stupid enough to want to stay” Stiles said. “I don’t know if he gets to stay, even if he has good answers to everything. I’m so done with him on his high horse, at the moment, he may take it and trot off to Never Neverland for all I care” he finished off his coffee, and slammed the mug down, it almost broke. 

“Sir,” the waitress was back “is everything all right?” she asked 

“I’m sorry,” Stiles told her “I got a bit upset, I’m calm now” he took a deep breath and smiled at her. She smiled back at him and refilled coffee for them. 

“So how long do we give him?” Peter asked. “I know you gave him 24 hours, but do you really think he’ll chose to leave by himself? I think he will take his chances, he’s vain enough to think that he can just ride this out, and continue as he has”. 

“I’ll inform the pack that he’s back, and that they contact us, in case he tries to contact them. I’ll suspect Lydia to be the next one he contacts” Mason said. He hadn’t even stopped speaking when Stiles phone rang.

“Lydia, light of my life” Stiles answered the phone. “Yes we met with him… he called you? What did you say?... Good… Yeah … thanks, talk to you later” they could hear Stiles. He must have some kind of protection on his phone, because nothing could be heard from the line. They all looked at him with raised eyebrows. 

“Yeah, that was Lydia” Stiles told them. “Deaton called her and asked for Scott, she told him to talk to me about it and hung up. He called back, but she let the calls go to voicemail. She just called to let us know”.

“What did you do to your phone?” Mason asked Stiles who blushed a little.

“Oh, I put a protection spell on it, it works? It’s the first time anyone asked about it so I didn’t know if it worked or not” Peter and Derek both shrugged.

“Oh it worked, none of us heard anything, can you do that on my phone too?” Mason ended with a question that made Stiles light up and smile brightly. Mason realised that it was the first sincere smile he’d ever drawn from Stiles himself.

“Sure, give it here” he held out his hand towards Mason who handed his phone over. Stiles reached in his pocket and took out a permanent marker, he drew a rune on the back of the phone, mumbled something, and gave the phone back to Mason. There were two phones handed his way as soon as he gave the first one back. Stiles made use of his Sharpie and marked the alphas phones too. 

Peter stood up as soon as he got his phone back.

“Well, now we wait, I’m going back to the house” he told the others. “Keep in touch” he said and left. Mason shrugged.

“I should get back. Leave you two to yourselves” and with that Mason left.

Stiles looked at Derek with a smirk.


	3. Reaching out, the wrong way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deaton is trying to reach Scott

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, forgot to put up a chapter yesterday!

They didn’t hear anything from anyone about Deaton trying contact anyone after his conversation with Lydia. Well not until Melissa called Stiles around 10pm. 

“Stiles, can you tell me why I’ve got 13 missed calls, 4 voice mails, and 2 texts to call Deaton as soon as I get in?” She asked. 

“Well, by the sound of it, he wants you to call him?” Stiles smirked “Seriously, he contacted me yesterday to try to reach Scott, and we met him this morning, trying to get some answers, he didn’t want to give them, so we told him nothing either. He tried Lydia too” he could hear Melissa sigh at the other side of the line. 

“So, what? Do I call him, or not” she asked.

Stiles took a moment, he looked at Derek who was sitting beside him in bed. The movie they had watched on pause. 

“Call him back. Don’t tell him about Scott, or anything about the pack, just… well, tell him to call me if he has any questions” he was quiet for a moment “and if he asks why me, ask him why not?” Stiles told her. “I don’t want him to know anything if he can’t be trusted, and as it is now, he can’t be trusted. He has to earn pack trust, the same way we all do, by being loyal” Melissa was quiet on the other side of the line. 

“I don’t really know how we ended up here Stiles. But I want you to know, you’ve always been like a son to me. I know I’m not your mother, but I hope you think of me as a co-parent or something. I love you like you were my own, and I’m so sorry I didn’t realise how bad things were for you”

“Thank you Melissa” Stiles had tears in his eyes. “You are, and always will be ‘Mama Mc Call’ and I didn’t want you to know about the way I was treated, kind of a victim blaming, only I was blaming myself?”

They ended the call and Stiles tried to get Derek to put the movie on again. But he wouldn’t. He took Stiles in his arms, and hugged him hard, his face hidden in the crook of Stiles neck. 

“I know all about survivor’s guilt,” he muttered to Stiles skin “I didn’t realise that you were blaming yourself. I thought you just wanted to handle it yourself, and your self-esteem had been kicked down a couple of notches” Derek sounded a little broken. 

“It’s okay Sourwolf” Stiles patted him on the back, and held him tight. “I don’t really advertise. You’ll help me through this. I’ve stopped blaming myself, I try to put it all behind me by accepting that it was what it was. Bullying and victim blaming, but mostly bullying”. He kissed Derek’s forehead and reached for the computer. 

“Let’s watch the movie” he said.

When they woke up, Stiles had a text message on his phone, to meet Deaton at the veterinary clinic. As he had suspected, the veterinarian druid wanted to talk. Well, probably the other way around, but that was not happening.

They had an hour to get Mason. Peter and the Sheriff sat at the table, eating breakfast as they came down. Stiles told them about the text and Peter offered to call and get Mason, before he picked them up, so that they could have breakfast and shower in peace. 

Stiles felt prepared when Peter drove up with Mason, he and Derek got in the back seat, and settled down. He wondered if there would be any difference in Deaton’s behaviour. 

They didn’t knock on the door as they entered the clinic, they walked straight into the office, without pause. Standing in front of Deaton, who was sitting down, seemingly as captivated in his papers as he seemed yesterday.

“So, you know what we want, talk” Stiles told him

The druid didn’t look up. He ignored Stiles totally. 

“Ok, that’s it” Stiles said. “Get him out! He had his time, and now it’s over” he continued. “You can seek an audience with the pack alpha when you gotten off your high horse” At this Peter and Derek walked around the desk, and picked up the suddenly very attentive druid, and carried him out his door. Mason and Stiles following closely. They put the man down by his car.

“I told you that can’t reach Scott, and why the hell would I need to ‘seek audience’ with him” the druid hissed at them.

Stiles started laughing, and the others smirked at the man. He looked angry. 

“If you’d bothered to answer my questions like a normal person, you would have known by now. But you chose to ignore me, and by that ignore the help you could have gotten. So, now. Leave. If you want to stay in this territory, adjacent to the pack. You. Will. Like everybody else. Need to seek an audience with the alpha. And you can figure that out in the next territory or on Mars for all I care” he dismissed the druid. 

Peter who’d taken the man’s car keys and wallet from his desk, held the wallet out to him, and opened the car, settling behind the wheel. 

“I’ll drive you to the city limits, and see you off, just so we know you’re gone” he told the druid.

They saw Peter drive off in a way less manor than they’d expected, and decided to go to the diner to try and review what just happened. Half an hour and two cups of coffee later, Peter joined them. He seemed almost chipper. 

Derek raised an eyebrow at him. 

“That was fun” his uncle told them with a smile “Deaton is clueless to what has happened here the last couple of months, he’s been getting updates from and kept in contact with Mr Mc Call until he told him he was going back. After that, all he got was radio silence”.

“I gather the updates weren’t exactly truthful?” Stiles asked and gripped harder to Derek’s hand that he had been holding, as the alpha sat beside him at the table.

“Not exactly truthful, is an understatement. Mc Call told him that everything was holly jolly, and that he needn’t bother to come back. He’d not even told the poor man that we were back in town” Peter was telling them; you could hear him enjoy himself. “He tried to ask me questions about Mc Call and figure out what was going on, why myself and Derek was back, I enjoyed telling him nothing at all, only told him to get in touch with Mason to arrange something with the alpha” he smirked at said young man. 

“What do I tell him?” Mason asked them. “Ideally I would only set up a time, and a place, and the four of us meet him there. Preferably at his hotel, out of our territory” he continued. They all nodded. 

“Tell the pack what’s up, and to redirect all calls, and questions to you” Derek told Mason. “You speak for the pack in this case, it’s good training for you, and it’s not going to get Deaton more suspicious. I think he’s thinking Scott is just up to something – again”.

Peter agreed with him on that, and told them that Deaton hadn’t spoken about anything but Mc Call, and for a smart man, he’d seemed very hung up on the former alpha. 

“There is something I don’t get though” Mason stated, again he questioned the pack bonds. “I can feel them, and I’m merely human. We felt pack bonds – albeit very weak, with Scott, how come he didn’t feel the bonds break? Is it because he is a druid?”

Peter and Derek looked at each other. They looked like they had a silent conversation, before Peter turned to Mason.

“We don’t really know. He should sense them. Maybe when the pack bonds in the old Hale pack broke, they severely broke him and his ability to feel pack bonds, maybe he put up something to shield himself from that ever happening again?” Peter said “You know I’m only speculating” he finished. 

Derek ended the conversation before anyone else could, by standing up, pulling Stiles with him, and starting to leave.

“Well, all we can do is wait” he said over his shoulder, “We have places to be”.


	4. These are strange times

It took Deaton four days to get in touch with Mason, who reported that the druid seemed frustrated, and that he still hadn’t gotten hold of Scott. He had suggested to Mason that Scott had lost his phone. Mason hadn’t confirmed or denied it. He had only spoken about Peter and Derek in the terms of his alpha, so Deaton was none the wiser about it not being Scott. Or that what’s Mason thought. 

When Mason had suggested that the meeting take place at Deaton’s hotel, that he’d arrange for a conference room, two days from now, he told them that he could almost hear the druid’s thoughts start spinning. Scott’s awareness of protocol was vague at best. He remembered how Lydia had to help him during the negotiations. 

Deaton had gone quiet and he’d not answered for a few minutes, before he’d seemingly reluctantly accepted the time and place. 

As Peter and Derek organised the protection of their territory while they were out of it with the pack, Stiles and Mason agreed on different strategies to get the answers they needed, and the foundation for a well informed decision about how to deal with the druid. 

They considered the options of an early start, staying over in the hotel or another hotel in the area. Neither Peter nor Derek felt good about leaving their territory for longer than necessary, Stiles made a quip about unsupervised. They decided on an early start, to make it to the hotel, and conference room about an hour before they were about to start. Also expecting Deaton to be early.

*

They’d decided to use one car to get there. Peter was driving. Well Derek was supposed to be driving but it had been like murder to get Derek and Stiles out of bed. Stiles had kept them awake with anxiety until the early morning hours, and they were now snoozing in the back seat. 

Mason and Peter in the front. Mason hadn’t slept well either. This was his first run as Emissary and pack representative, and Deaton had been Emissary to Peter’s sister, and Derek’s mother, so pack protocol. Deaton knew how things were supposed to proceed. And Mason felt that he would use that knowledge against him. Against them. He felt reassured that Peter and Stiles were there. Stiles Adderall had started to kick in so he was awake in the backseat, but quiet, not to wake his boyfriend. Mason thought they were so cute together.

As they arrived and left the car in the parking lot, Derek stretched and told the others he would check the outside perimeter, Peter told Mason and Stiles to check in, and go to the conference room, that they would come when they knew it was safe. 

Mason did what was told, and they were shown into a large room, with place for about 12-14 occupants. There were comfortable chairs and a small buffet with different cookies, brownies and other pastries. And coffee. Stiles helped himself. Mason was content with a soda. 

It wasn’t long before Derek, then Peter showed up, perimeter clear. They sat down on one side of the table, beside each other. Mason situated between Derek and Peter, Stiles beside Derek. That made Peter and Stiles sit on the sides. 

Deaton to no one’s surprise showed up fifteen minutes early. He held his phone in his hand, and looked at them suspiciously before he cleared his throat. 

“So, by this I assume that there is a Hale alpha, and a Hale pack once again” he said. “Or are you the alpha Stiles?” he asked.

As per their agreement they didn’t respond, or indicate anything. Mason spoke up when Deaton had sat down in front of them. 

“So, you’ve requested an audience with the alpha of Beacon Hills about your presence there” He started and the druid nodded courtly. 

“Yes that is correct” Deaton stated. 

“Well, I’m the Emissary of said alpha” Mason continued after a brief moments pause. “We would like to know your intentions. You will state your business. We, that is me and Stiles, who are representing the pack, will ask you questions. You will answer. Before we leave you will get a verdict from the pack, if or if not you get what you ask for. Do you understand what I said?” Mason looked stern and confident.

“I understand” Deaton looked uncomfortable.

“Then state your business” Mason started the discussion off.

“I would like to stay in Beacon Hills to uphold my work as a veterinarian, and guardian of the supernatural, as well as of the land we live on” Deaton stated. 

Stiles was the one asking questions so he started with the one he’d already asked a couple of times. 

“Where have you been the last couple of months, and what have you’ve been up to?” he asked.

Deaton looked irritated but answered.

“As I stated to alpha Mc Call, even before I left, I’ve been looking for my sister since the Alpha pack left, and I finally got some shred of evidence that she was alive. He told them. “I told Alpha Mc Call about it, I kept him updated on my progress, and when I found her, I told him. I stayed in her new home for almost two months to reacquaint myself with her. All the while being in touch with alpha Mc Call. Ten days ago it was time to leave, and I told alpha Mc Call about it. I haven’t heard from him since, so I contacted Lydia, Liam, Theo and Stiles. Stiles was the only one who answered” He looked at them.

“What did Scott tell you about Beacon Hills?” Stiles continued his questions. 

“Alpha Mc Call,” Deaton emphasised the name “told me about threats, about the pack, and things about the animals he took care of in the clinic, Animals that seems to be in Melissa’s care when I returned.”

“What kind of threats are we talking about?” Stiles asked.

“Well there were the pixies, a troll, and some disturbance to the wards” the druid said.

“Did you during any of these calls get the sense of being lied to?” Stiles asked.

“No” was the short answer from Deaton.

“How about your pack bonds?” Stiles was curious, and they could all hear it. 

“What about my pack bonds? What gives you the right to ask about them?” Deaton seemed annoyed at the question.

“I’m asking the questions here” Stiles told him. 

“We want to know about your pack bonds, or rather lack of pack bonds. I think it’s important, and it will be in the evaluation of deciding whether you get to reside in our territory”. Mason clarified. 

“So, talk” Stiles added.

Deaton looked pained as he cleared his throat. They could see that he was trying to hold his temper, and to answer sincerely.

“I didn’t have pack bonds by choice. It nearly killed me when the Hale pack was almost eradicated, I lost my anchor and my bearings. I didn’t want to experience that again, so I cut the bonds with what was left of the Hale pack, stayed away from them. When Laura returned, I tried to keep away, and out of it. I was unhelpful”, he nodded some kind of apology towards the Hales. “When the packs established in the area, they were to unstable and I calculated on the survival, as the Alpha pack closed in. I didn’t want to experience any breaking of any kind of bonds, so I went through a ritual. I have no pack bonds, and will not have any until I undo the spell included in the ritual” he explained. 

Peter nodded. 

“How did you help Scott out? He turned to you in support, he ignored all other advice, you were the only one he trusted?” Stiles followed up with.

“I tried to support alpha Mc Call. I know him quite well. The problem arose when he advanced from beta to true alpha. He stopped listening. He adapted a vision that fit with his black and white outlook on life. He didn’t listen to his advisors” Deaton pointedly looked at Stiles, “or me. He was all about hearing what he wanted, so that he could live, and let live. I’ve been negotiating with packs and tried to buffer between him and others for years. I haven’t had the time to be directly involved with any of the pack business for all that time. I’ve been pack adjacent at best” Deaton sounded exasperated. 

“If I tell you, that Scott told everyone that you were his Emissary, and that every suggestion, idea or thing he promoted came from you, what would you answer be?” Stiles asked, by now he sounded more curious than the calculated strictness he had used in the beginning. 

“I’d say you, or he, lied” Deaton’s answer was short.

“Oh, no, he did claim that” Mason agreed with Stiles who looked down at the questions he’d written down before the meeting.

“I only have one question left, before I let Mason continue” Stiles said, and both Deaton and Mason nodded. Peter and Derek, was listening intently to everything said, and Deaton’s heartbeat.

“What do you think happened in Beacon Hills while you were away?” 

“As I told you, alpha Mc Call kept me updated. I would think that maybe something happened during the last week or ten days, something that made Peter or Derek alpha again” he nodded at the mentioned werewolves. “Or you” he said as an afterthought, and looked closer at Stiles. They all nodded and looked at each other.

“Mr Deaton, we would like to confer before we continue this” Mason said, and looked around. “Would it be okay for you to stay here and have some coffee, and pastries and we will be back in a couple of minutes?” he asked. The druid nodded. 

They all left the room, and moved to a corner of the lobby, where they gathered. 

“So what do you think?” Stiles asked. Peter and Derek seemed to think about it.

“I don’t know” Mason said. “He sounds sincere, and it was nothing really surprising if you think about it” he looked at Stiles for confirmation. They all nodded. Derek looked at Peter who nodded.

“We are of the opinion, that we tell him what’s been going on, and then let him say something about that, before we make any kind of decision” Peter said for him and Derek. They all agreed and headed back to the room. 

“I should tell you” Deaton said when they all sat down, “that I just got a text message from alpha Mc Call, inquiring on my scheduled return to Beacon Hills. Also telling me that some problem has arisen in said place” he told them. “He asked me to call him, as soon as I arrived in Beacon Hills”. 

Mason looked around, and spoke

“We decided to trust you enough to tell you what’s been going on in Beacon Hills lately” he said.

Deaton looked somewhere between mildly interested and apprehensive. He frowned a little.

“Some time ago, alpha Mc Call started to exclude Stiles not only from what he did best, but also all decision making, on the grounds that Stiles here was a killer” Mason explained. “He tried to turn his father, the pack and Chris away from him, we all was told not to trust him, and not to encourage his growing insanity. 

We were told that you were his Emissary, and you and him made decisions together. That he confided in you and the other way around. That you helped him and us when it came to supernatural problems” at this the druid snorted.

“Scott has been ignoring the threats and relocating them, instead of taking them seriously, and trying to take care of them. He often proceeded to just tranquilising, or in another way incapacitate known threats like Harpies, witches, and Omegas, and then move them into our neighbouring territories, wreaking havoc, making the pack there having to take the threat on, unprepared. 

The Chang’s was taken by surprise by one of these threats, set free close to their home, and was mostly destroyed. The Anderson’s lost one of theirs in the same manor. Let’s say they were not very happy with alpha Mc Call. I know you’ve worked with Ito to keep the peace, and that they haven’t been as badly exposed as the others. Still.” Mason took a pause to consider how he would move on.

“Anyway, the Sheriff decided that enough was enough and called the Hale pack in to regain their territory. And to take care of the members of the pack they left in alpha Mc Call’s care. To summarize the rest. Scott is not an alpha anymore. The Hale’s care for the territory, new treaties has been signed, the packs has merged together, and organised itself with who has what competence.

The question Mr Deaton, is how much of what former alpha Mc Call said, is true? The consensus is that the only person he listened to, and took any advice from, is you! So Mr Deaton, can you, without a doubt of a lie tell us, that you had nothing to do with the way Scott Mc Call treated his pack, the land that was left in his care, or the people around him.

And if you were to return to Beacon Hills. How could the pack benefit from you, and what would you want to achieve from the pack?” Mason finished.

The room was quiet for a while, and they let the druid process the information he’d just gotten. It took some time before he looked up at them.

“I have some questions” he said. Mason nodded consent. 

“What happened to Scott”? The druid asked hesitantly.

Mason looked at the alphas and Stiles, and none of them made any sign, so he answered truthfully. 

“What would you expect of me?” was the second question.

Mason turned to Stiles, who leant forward.

“You are a druid, sworn to keep the balance in nature. If you are committed to a pack, or in a pack, you also swear to protect and serve that pack” he smirked at an inside joke, “and if those two conflict, you are supposed to turn to the alpha with your dilemma, and or the druid council. I don’t know what happened before the Hale fire, and your involvement before or after, I don’t care, we crossed too many bridges, but I know that if you commit to the new Hale pack, we require loyalty, we require fairness and we require honesty. No more Mr Cryptic Guy!” Stiles ended his short speech. 

To his surprise, Deaton smiled a little.

“I’ve always liked your backbone Stiles” he said. “Could you give me half an hour to discuss this with my sister, and to make a decision? To be honest, I will probably call Mr Mc Call to see what he has to say too.” 

The pack nodded and watched him leave. Stiles got up and headed for the buffet. He filled his cup and Derek’s he moved in on the brownies, and grabbed a cookie for Derek. Mason and Peter could fend for themselves. 

They started drinking their coffee in silence. Before discussing options. Twenty minutes later Derek and Peter focused on the door, so Mason and Stiles expected Deaton to turn up. And he did, he walked slowly into the room, with a thoughtful expression on his face. He walked up to his place in silence, and sat down. They looked expectantly at him.

“So, I’ve talked to Scott before I spoke with Marin” he offered. “Scott was, well, to say it nicely quite irrational in response to my questions. It was like he didn’t really understand why I asked them, or that I didn’t agree with what he’d told you about me. In his head and mind, he obviously decided that he and I have had conversations, and agreed to things I know nothing about. 

I spoke to Marin about it. She thinks that he’s been kind of hallucinating, not making things up, but that he somehow thought that I was saying things and agreeing to things, he didn’t speak to me about. She thinks that he used me as a crossing between a crutch, and a scape goat. If he told you I said, you wouldn’t question him or his decisions. It started off as that, and escalated.” His voice died out. 

“I want to live in Beacon Hills” he said after a moment. “I want to be part of the community, at least as a veterinarian. I’d like to continue my work as a guardian of the land, and the Nemeton under a stable pack. And if you have Chris as an adjacent, even if I don’t know who is the alpha, I’d like to at least be an advisor, and help with what I can. I don’t want to join your pack; I don’t want the bond. If only because I can’t handle the stress.”

Mason nodded, and looked at the werewolves, and then Stiles. 

“There is much at stake, for all of us. We’d like to trust you, and we will offer you a trial stay in Beacon Hills. Like probation. You can stay as a veterinary, and a guardian, only if you will train someone in the pack as your successor. If things work out, you can stay. 

When it comes to druid business, we have an option for you to consider, as an advisor, like Chris. It doesn’t include a requirement to be pack, but it does entail you to be loyal to the pack, so that we can trust you with our secrets. And you trust us”. 

Alan Deaton looked, there was no other word for it, he looked grateful. Almost happy.

“I accept those conditions” he said, a smile almost reaching his face. 

They all smiled at him. “We will take care of your bill and hope that you can stay here for a few more days. Melissa is still taking care of the animals at the clinic, and we need to change our wards, and talk to the rest of the pack”. Mason told him.

As they left for Beacon Hills, Mason looked in the rear-view mirror.

“This is a strange time, with lots of changes. All for the good of the pack. I think our druid is going to be easier to work with from now on” he said with a smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right now I feel like I'v got nothing more in this 'verse, but, who knows. There may be plot-holes and I may get ideas.


End file.
